Tag: Enugu-Onitsha expressway

The Federal Ministry of Works has expressed dissatisfaction with the handling of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway construction by RCC Ltd, which is funded by MTN under the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme. 

A delegation from the Anambra and Enugu caucus of the 10th National Assembly, led by Senate Minority Whip Osita Ngwu, visited the Minister of Works, David Umahi, to seek federal intervention.

Lawmakers present included Senators Okey Ezea and Kelvin Chukwu, alongside several House of Representatives members from Enugu and Anambra states, as well as senior MTN officials, key ministry directors, and representatives of RCC Ltd.

It was resolved that the ministry would formally request MTN to commit to a minimum monthly payment of N15 billion for the next 10 months to accelerate the project.

If MTN fails to comply, the ministry will initiate the process to terminate the project contract. 

It was also agreed that three contractors should be engaged to complete the 79-kilometre stretch within the original contract sum of N202 billion, while the remaining 72 kilometres will be awarded to other contractors through a competitive bidding process, with MTN and RCC also invited to participate. 

According to a statement from the Minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Uchenna Orji, the ministry expressed concerns that MTN’s approach does not align with the Tax Credit Executive Order.

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According to the ministry, the delay in project execution, primarily due to inadequate funding and poor contract performance, has already led to a cost increase of over 100 per cent.

If left unresolved, further delays could push the cost up by more than 200 per cent, which the government considers unacceptable, it noted. 

During the meeting, Umahi assured the Southeast region of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to improving transportation infrastructure nationwide.

He expressed deep sympathy for the lives lost due to the incomplete road, particularly the recent tanker explosion at Ugwu Onyema. 

The minister stressed that the Southeast has a significant place in the administration’s development plans and acknowledged that President Tinubu inherited 2,064 projects worth about N13 trillion, a figure that has now exceeded N20 trillion due to economic factors such as currency depreciation and fuel subsidy removal. 

Senator Ngwu praised the scale of road construction under the administration but raised concerns about inadequate funding for critical projects like the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway.

He noted that the road has become a death trap for users and called for immediate funding to prevent further tragedies. 

Ngwu also stressed that while the government has initiated many projects in the Southeast, a lack of funding could render them ineffective.

He urged the administration to ensure that projects receive adequate financial backing to deliver tangible benefits to the region. 

Senator Victor Umeh (Anambra Central) also acknowledged the administration’s infrastructure efforts but appealed for accelerated funding for Southeast roads.

He noted that while national infrastructure projects are progressing, the Southeast needs urgent intervention to bridge its long-standing infrastructure deficit.

The lawmaker urged the President to prioritise road funding in the region to fully integrate it into the administration’s economic development agenda.

Motorists are thrilled about the partial opening of the previously challenging Ugwuonyeama section at the 9th Mile end of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway after years of harrowing experiences.

The road was re-opened on Thursday by the contractors to allow free flow of movement by travellers returning home for Christmas and New Year celebrations.

The motorists’ enthusiasm stems from the unpleasant encounters on the deteriorated road lane during the reconstruction initiated by MTN last year. 

This led to a situation where all vehicles had to navigate through a single lane while work progressed on the other side.

The MTN Nigeria took over the N202.8 billion road project last year under the road infrastructure tax credit (RITC) scheme of the federal government.

Expressing their past experience on the road, enthusiastic commuters remarked that the years when the road was in disrepair were horrific, with frequent incidents of articulated vehicles falling on the road, resulting in numerous casualties.

One of the tanker drivers, identified as Donald Okafor, said plying on the Ugwuonyeama-9th Mile was the worst for him as a fuel tanker driver.

“Severally, my colleagues have been burnt to death on this road because of its bad mature. You don’t talk about the loss of the vehicle and products to fire on this particular road. 

“I want to personally thank the federal government for allowing MTN to fund this project. Just within one year, we are already getting positive results.

“I believe this will stop the avoidable accidents and loss of lives manhour”, he said.

However, speaking at a joint press conference in Enugu on the temporary opening of the road to ease traffic for travellers during this yuletide, the MTN Coordinator Community Liaison Initiative, Dr Reginald Facah, expressed the company’s determination to ensure the completion of the dual carriageway in record time.

He expressed happiness that vehicular traffic would return to the road after years of dilapidation.

He said the people of Enugu and Anambra States would “be able to travel in a long while on top of the Amawbia flyover to territories beyond without going under the bridge and doing an illegal one-way that the authorities were forced to legalize a long time ago.

“By this singular act of taking up one of the most dilapidated roads in Nigeria, the Enugu – Onitsha dual carriageway in the novel RITC scheme pioneered by former President Muhammadu Buhari, MTN Communications Nigeria PLC has shown that it is an organization that has the common good of the Nigerian masses at heart. 

“Indeed, taking up this project from the state we met it and running with it till the present state and beyond has not been an all rosy experience; but we are determined to see it till the end”. 

While noting that December and the Christmas season have seen unimaginable suffering on the parts of commuters and drivers on the same road, Facah lamented that many Southeasterners did not bother to do the end of year homecoming ritual because the deplorable state of the roads in the southeast has further exacerbated the security situation. 

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“However, with the present state of the Enugu – Onitsha Road after the MTN intervention, many people will gladly make the trip home this year; with vehicular and human traffic from the Onitsha Bridge down to the Abakpa 82 division end of the road expected to be heavy and traffic control very hectic.

“However, the opening of some partially completed sections of the dual carriageway to ameliorate the anticipated traffic logjam on the road is expected to make the drive through a whole lot easier and better”.

The Southeast zonal commander FRSC, Ochinga I. Ameh, an Assistant Corps Marshall, commended MTN for taking up the project, saying its imminent completion would not only ease the traffic jam usually experienced, but would prevent accidents and save lives.

Ameh however appealed to the people of Enugu and Anambra States and indeed all road users that may be traversing the route during and after the Yuletide period to always exercise patience and caution to avoid avoidable accidents.